Wired peripherals, such as keyboards, mice, game controllers, etc. are physically connected to a host computer by a cable. Wireless peripherals on the other hand are not physically connected to the host computer. Therefore wireless peripherals must be paired to the host to create a “virtual cable.” During the “pairing” or “binding” process, two wireless devices exchange device identifiers (IDs) and agree upon one of multiple wireless channels for transmitting information. The device IDs are sent along with the wireless transmissions so that the receiving device can confirm it is receiving data from the correct remote wireless device.
Today there are three main techniques for wirelessly pairing a peripheral with a desired host. The first technique requires a user to push buttons on the peripheral and host at the same time. This places both devices in a special pairing mode where the two devices exchange pairing information. The pairing button technique assumes that no other devices will be in the pairing mode at the same time. This is the typical technique used with most 27 Mega Hertz (MHz) wireless mice and keyboards.
The pairing buttons used for the pairing button technique add cost to the host and peripheral devices. The pairing buttons are usually placed in out of the way locations on the wireless devices and are relatively small so they are not accidentally pressed during normal wireless operations. Users are frustrated when they cannot find or activate these small out of the way pairing buttons.
A second pairing technique requires the wireless peripheral device to query all devices in range and present a list to the user. The peripheral user then selects the desired host from the displayed list. The list technique requires a user interface, which is not available on many low-cost peripheral devices. This technique also requires the user to know the name, or some other distinguishing characteristic, of the desired host in order to select it from the list of all in-range devices.
A third wireless system adds a near field communications transceiver to each wireless device that only transmits over a few centimeters. This technique requires additional transceiver hardware and additional firmware to control the special near field communications transceiver. The near field transceiver uses special wireless binding signals that are different from the signaling used for normal data communications. This adds additional wireless hardware to the system that is cost-prohibitive for many low-cost peripherals.
The present invention addresses this and other problems associated with the prior art.